After a months-long protest by Native American groups and environmental activists, the US Army Corps of Engineers on Dec. 4 told Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault that the current route for the controversial Dakota Access oil pipeline in North Dakota will be denied.
“Today the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that it will not be granting the easement to cross Lake Oahe for the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline,” Archambault said in a statement. “Instead, the Corps will be undertaking an environmental impact statement to look at possible alternatives routes. We wholeheartedly support the decision of the administration and commend with the utmost gratitude the courage it took on the part of President Obama, the Army Corps, the Department of Justice and the Department of the Interior to take steps to correct the course of history and to do the right thing.”
“I’m just thankful that there were some leaders in the federal government who realized that something is not right even though it’s legal,” Archambault told MSNBC. “I would say that it’s over.”
